The Best Homemade Electrolyte Drinks

Due to the drinking water being depleted in vital minerals in many parts of the world – including the U.S., electrolyte drinks are crucial for any activity and general hydration during the warmer months. We have explored The Best Electrolyte Drinks for powders and liquids, as well as the Top 11 Fruits and Vegetables High in Electrolytes. After reading these articles, you will see the most sports drinks are nothing more than sugar, salt, and artificial colors, and even coconut water might not be ideal due to cramping during exercise, While electrolyte powders and bottled sports drinks are great for convenience, you can make a very impressive natural electrolyte drink using fruits, vegetables and sea minerals for a fraction of the cost.

The following is a list of the best homemade electrolyte drinks. These recipes are open to tweaking based on your personal tastes. You may find that you want to use less of the liquid sea minerals for some of these formulas to get the flavor you want. If you feel like you are losing a lot of sweat and may need more sodium and carbohydrates, you always add a pinch sea salt and raw honey or maple syrup in place of stevia. If you are following a low-carb diet, you may need to increase your sodium intake, along with potassium.

Basic Homemade Electrolyte Drinks

1. The Classic: Lemon, Orange, and Cucumber Electrolyte Drink

The Classic is basic and just requires you to slice lemon, cucumber, and orange, throw it in as is, and add Total Hydration liquid electrolytes and optional Stevia.

2. Carbonated Lemonade Electrolyte Drink

This one takes mineral effort and is an incredibly refreshing way to replenish electrolytes. I have made this one on numerous occasions to have during a hike. This is an excellent way to get sodium bicarbonate, calcium, and magnesium without having to add baking soda or calcium-magnesium powder.

Bonus: Carbonation and bicarbonate. Carbonation increases stomach pressure, which pushes the contents through the stomach lining and into the bloodstream. This increases the delivery system for electrolytes to your bloodstream and muscles. However, this could cause a lot of burping. Bicarbonate helps balance your pH and in some studies to potentially increase muscle performance.

Recommendation: Post-workout lemonade for muscle recovery or in-between exercise. I often take this one on a hike and drink it during rest periods.

3. The Mojito Electrolyte Drink: Mint, Lime and Cucumber

The Mojito is for those brutally hot days where you just want to sit under a lime tree and call it a day.

4. Frozen Watermelon Electrolyte Slushee

Watermelon is an electrolyte superfruit on its own. People go crazy over the taste of this one and it is so simple to make. Scoop out the watermelon, add to a blender, and then pour into individual paper or plastic cups and freeze.

Watermelon is 92% water and originally comes from southern Africa. It contains potassium, sodium and a high level of lycopene, which protects against sun damage. The white and rind contain one of the only sources of citrulline, which benefits nitric oxide production for athletic performance.

Recommendation: This is awesome on a hot day after a solid workout. Watermelon has been found in studies reduce muscle soreness. This is also one of the only things people can keep down to stay hydrated during the stomach flu or food poisoning.

Recommendation: Cherries performs very well in studies for athletes. Numerous studies have found decreased muscle soreness and increased recovery from cherry juice and dehydrated cherry supplements. Drink after heavy lifting or endurance training. You could make a protein shake with whey or plant-based protein with it as well for a complete recovery drink.

Advanced Homemade Electrolyte Drinks

1. ELECT: The Health Beat Secret Formula (until now)

This is the formula that I almost made into a commercial electrolyte drink. The problem is that you need to drink it fresh. HPP or pasteurization will ruin the flavor. This is a little more expensive to make, but the nutrition profile is superior to anything on the market. My family and friends ask me to make this for them every summer.